GORHAM — Simon Trcka of Thornton Academy had been marked by two and often three Gorham High defenders throughout their Western Class A boys’ soccer showdown Tuesday night.
Trcka had two rare commodities when he lined up a direct kick from the center of the field from about 27 yards: time to take a breath and space. Thornton was down a goal, the clock ticking down to four minutes to play and there was a wall of Rams in front of him. But at least he could get the kick away cleanly.
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His shot bent around the wall and glanced off the hands of diving goalie Trenton Bassingthwaite for a 1-1 tie that held up.
“Just, I need to score. That’s all I think about,” Trcka said. “I wanted the left corner. It wasn’t that good a free kick but it was good so I’m happy.”
Gorham is 9-0-3. Thornton is 7-2-3.
“It was a great free kick,” Gorham Coach Tim King said. “I’m guessing there aren’t too many kids in this league or any other league that can hit it better than him and when you give him a free kick from that spot, I bet he’s going to score a whole lot of those.”
Gorham’s marking backs, Gerek Brown and Emerson Fox, had worked all night to contain Trcka and for the most part did well.
“It means that I have to move more, that I can’t just stand and wait for the ball,” Trcka said of the multi-man marking. “I need to move with them all the time and make it worse for them, the defenders.”
Trojans Coach Andrew Carlson moved Trcka to right wing late in the second half. Shortly after, he collected the ball, worked around multiple defenders and was taken down as he began a drive that led to the direct kick.
Thornton was coming off a 2-1 overtime loss to Deering, another top-four team, and will host No. 1 Scarborough on Thursday.
“We’ve been talking to the guys the last couple weeks that we know this three-game stretch will be a challenge,” Carlson said. “For us, these are three playoff games. We know Deering, Gorham and Scarborough are probably three of the top four teams in Western Maine. They’ve got a history and we’re trying to measure up. These have been two good tests.”
The first half belonged mostly to Gorham after Bassingthwaite (6 saves) deflected a strong early shot by Dalton Moore.
The Rams were particularly dangerous on set pieces, both corner kicks and deep throw-ins from Cole Houghton.
It was a Houghton throw that Jackson Fotter crisply headed past keeper Andrew Coleman (7 saves) in the 19th minute.
Gorham midfielder Cody Elliott just missed on three strong bids in the first half: a hard dipping shot from distance, a header off an Ethan Orach corner and a one-timer set up after a strong run up the right side by Ryan Firmin and Kyle King.
In the second half, Thornton started winning more balls thanks to the work of players like midfielders Moore and Eric Gooch (who played through a bloodied and packed nose), and defenders Noah Niles and Alex Arnold.
“They controlled most of the second half,” Elliott said. “They were leading up to that (free kick) the whole way and we were kind of hanging on there.”
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